Dr. Gizmo: Road Runner's modem trouble, Archer for OS X

The doc loves Archer. It doesn't do anything fancy -- it simply shows images, either full-screen or in a window, with blazing speed on a Mac OS X computer.

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Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

Dr. Gizmo: Road Runner's modem trouble, Archer for OS X, a letter from nowhere

July 17, 2002

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2002, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2002, The Post-Standard

   We have Road Runner as our Internet provider. We have Windows 98 on our Hewlett-Packard 6635 Pavilion computer. For the past two months or so, we've had problems with losing our Road Runner connection. We've had technicians at our home on at least three occasions but they can't find anything wrong with the computer or modem. The Road Runner customer support people seem stumped as well.
   It seems that each time we try to use the Internet, we have to unplug the modem from the power source and plug it back in again in order for it to work. Do you have any suggestions? Is there an Internet service that may be more compatible with our computer? -- P.L., via Road Runner
   The doctor thinks Road Runner support owes P.L. a modem that works. The doctor once exchanged a Road Runner modem by unplugging it and hauling it into the Road Runner billing office and asking politely for another one; the surprised folks at the counter got the doc another one within minutes.
   Road Runner needs to make sure that the modem and the cable itself are both OK. Nothing in the way Windows works should cause the line to go dead so often. But if all else fails, the doc thinks highly of reinstalling Windows. Windows 95, 98 and Me corrupt themselves and need to be reinstalled often.

   Hi, everybody. I'm changing my e-mail address.
   Chances are you don't care. This is because, instead of crafting an individual e-mail to all the people who I think might actually care, I'm simply sending this to everyone in my address book. Since my mail client stores the e-mail address of every single human I've ever sent e-mail to, this totally decreases the chances of you -- whoever you are -- caring in the least.
   It does, however, make this lots more fun for me.
   So. If you think you may ever, ever use my e-mail address again -- vasudeva@downcity.net -- go find your address book, or the back of an envelope, or whatever backwards technology you use to store e-mail addresses, and write down this new one instead: vasudeva@megarad.com. -- Vasudeva, via megarad.com
   The doctor was naive enough to mistake this letter for a joke. Alas, it was not so. The doc now has a new understanding of the term "unwanted mail."

   I'm trying to find Archer, the free image viewer for Mac OS X. -- JAH, via syracusenet.net
   The doc loves Archer. It doesn't do anything fancy -- it simply shows images, either full-screen or in a window, with blazing speed on a Mac OS X computer. Get it from www.parkersoftware.com.

   Dr. Gizmo views Al Fasoldt's digital photos on an Apple G4 computer. You can send an iMac or just a letter to the doc or his pal at Technology, Box 4915, Syracuse, NY 13221. Or send e-mail to afasoldt@twcny.rr.com.